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Tuesday, April 20, 2010

I guess it's time for me to let you know about another one of my "Goodwill Jewels". I haven't quite gotten down this whole "blogging" thing, so please forgive me if it takes me a while to post.

Anyway, continuing with our outing to local Goodwill stores, my find of the day was this little beauty…

I was in need of a small side chair that I could use in our bedroom. This was the ideal size, had pretty lines to it, was clean, was in PERFECT condition, and was C-H-E-A-P!!!!! Cost for this little baby was only $5.95!!!! Knowing that I already had the fabric at home that I wanted to use, the only thing I needed to purchase was some cording to go around the edge.

Now, let me put in a little “disclaimer” here… I have NEVER reupholstered anything, but did not feel too intimidated by this particular make-over. My niece Amy (of Design Intervention) had already advised me on how to tackle something like this, so I felt somewhat prepared to dive in. That is until I tried to find a phillip's head screw driver to remove the seat to start my project. My husband was out of town, and hard as I tried I could not find even ONE screwdriver!! I have my own battery-operated screw driver, but my dearest husband had taken the bit for his own electric screwdriver. NO! I couldn't even find that one. Sooooo, before I could even start, I had to make a trip to Lowes for a new bit for my screw driver. While there I decided in invest in a whole set of screw drivers that would be ALL MINE for future projects. They will be locked up for safe keeping!

Looking at the underneath side of the chair you can see what good condition it was in. Only four screws to remove and I was on my way.

I carefully removed the staples holding the black facing (or whatever you call it) and put it aside to reattach later.

At that point I set myself down and started removing what must have been a bazillion staples. You know all those smart people who tell you to put down a sheet under your work to catch all the staples? Well, you should listen to them - I didn't, and am STILL finding a staple here and there on my carpet.

Once I had all the staples removed I ended up with a naked cushion (notice the EXCELLENT condition it is in!). I laid my new fabric out and used the fabric from the seat cushion as my pattern piece.

Doesn't it look pretty already??

I started questioning my sanity in taking apart this chair when I saw that it was made in Italy. According to another tag that was on the chair (and subsequent research on the internet) I believe that it is was a pretty expensive chair.

Next step was to lay the cushion/frame down on the wrong side of my new fabric.

I carefully folded over the edges to the underneath side of the seat and started stapling. I put one staple at the top - pulled the bottom to make it tight, and put in a stapel there to hold it. I then worked my way around the seat - being especially care with the corners - until the entire seat cushion was secured.

Finally I ran the cording around the seat and secured that with staples as well.

Once that was completed I trimmed away the excess fabric and reattached the black fabric on the back.

Now I was ready to tackle the chair itself. With a few coats of Rust-Oleum's Heritage White spray paint....

This lovely red chair -

took on a whole new look!!!

I love it already!!

After letting it dry for 24 hours, I glazed it and "scuffed it up". Geeeeezzz - it seems so silly to go to all the work of making sure that I had a perfect paint job, only to scratch it all up. Why didn't I do this when my kids were little???... then it wouldn't have mattered a bit that my furniture got a scratch or two!!!

Final step was to reattach the seat to the chair, and bring it to our room. I was absolutely thrilled with the outcome, and am SOOOOO proud of myself. I think it turned out pretty darn good for my first try!!

Well, that's it for Project #2. It was so easy that I now feel qualified to take on an even more difficult project. I've already purchased another chair at a Thrift Store ($12 - marked down from $15.99), and will start working on it once I determine exactly where I'm going to put it and what fabric I want to use. Here's a little "sneak peek" of the chair I'll be working on. Stay tuned for a posting when I take on this little baby!!

Until the next posting - thanks for visiting. Feel free to leave me a comment or two so I know there is someone out there reading this stuff!!! :-)

3 comments:

I'm a total fan of finding Goodwill deals and this is certainly one of them! Great job. I got your note regarding my black table. I used Valspar Latex Enamel/Satin Black paint, interior/exterior paint. I used a small sponge roller to apply the paint and just a plain old paint brush to get to the small corners that the roller couldn't reach. I didn't apply a clear top coat and it has help up great, even with 3 kids. One thing I don't do is put hot items directly on the paint job. Good luck with your project, I'd love to see the before/after pics.

About Me

I love the Lord, love my hubby (married over 35 years), and love my family. I’ve done almost every craft imaginable, and enjoy learning how to do new things – especially anything that can be used to decorate my home! Initially started my own company "I Do Designs" to create wedding invitations (thus the "I Do") and other unique, one-of-a-kind designs for my customers.